Five virtuoso musicians showcased the broad range of possibilities on the venerable pipe organ at Toronto’s Rosedale United Church. A decent crowd came on a warm Monday evening for the All-Star Organ concert featuring the performances of Rashaan Allwood, Nicole Keller, Aaron James, Jonathan Oldengarm, and Shin-Young Lee.
Along with the musicians, the concert showcased Rosedale United Church’s Casavant Frères Opus 591 pipe organ and its 2,637 pipe range. The three-manual instrument, originally constructed in 1914 and expanded in 2005, incorporates 35 stops and 44 ranks.
The Organists
Here’s a brief look at the five performers, who will also be serving as this year’s guest faculty at the RCCO’s Summer Organ Academy, the only one of its kind in Canada.
Rashaan Allwood
Canadian composer, organist, and historical keyboardist Rashaan Rori Allwood is an artist whose practice incorporates a range of music, including contemporary works, early music, and interdisciplinary performance. With a PhD in composition, he is the Composer-in-Residence for New Music Concerts. As an organist, he has performed at major venues internationally, including St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, Coventry Cathedral, and St. Nikolai in Leipzig.
Nicole Keller
Alongside her performing career, Nicole Keller is the Chair of the University of Michigan’s Organ Department. She has performed at many major international venues, including St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, Notre Dame de Paris, and St. Stephan Cathedral in Passau. She performs both as a soloist and collaborator with ensembles such as the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Nicole released her debut recording in 2024, titled Those Americans, to critical acclaim.
Aaron James
Aaron James is a prize-winning performer and a scholar. He earned a PhD in musicology and a DMA in organ from the Eastman School of Music, and he is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian College of Organists. James is the Director of Music at the Toronto Oratory of St. Philip Neri, and a sessional lecturer in organ at the University of Toronto. Career landmarks include performing the complete organ works of J.S. Bach across 16 recitals during the 2024/25 season.
Jonathan Oldengarm
Jonathan Oldengarm is an organist, harpsichordist, conductor, chamber musician, and arranger. He is an acclaimed soloist and collaborative performer who has shared the stage with leading ensembles across Canada and in Europe. He has served as the Minister of Music and Organist at the Metropolitan United Church in Toronto, where he performs on Canada’s largest pipe organ. Oldengarm is also an adjunct faculty member at the University of Toronto. He previously taught at McGill University.
Shin-Young Lee
Internationally respected organist Shin-Young Lee studied at Yonsei Unversity, the Schola Cantorum, and the Paris Conservatoire. She has performed across five continents, including major venues such as the Berlin Philharmonie, Philharmonie de Paris, and Walt Disney Hall. Her performing career routinely includes appearances as a concerto soloist, and festival artist. Lee is also a frequent juror and masterclass instructor. She is also known as a transcriber and arranger, and her edition of Camille Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals was published by Schott.
Performances
Rashaan Allwood
I. Allegro agitato from Mazeppa, S. 100 (Symphonic poem) by Franz Liszt
Allwood performed his own transcription of Liszt’s orchestra work in a tour de force of artistry and technical prowess. Changing stops frequently to incorporate a wide range of colours from the instrument, fingers and feet flying — even playing on two of the manuals simultaneously with one hand — his performance was a dizzying exploration of the music.
As he explained before commencing, Liszt wrote the piece to capture the drama of a poem by Victor Hugo that describes how a Ukrainian page is tied to a wild horse as punishment, and his performance embodied the urgency and drama of the music admirably. Liszt’s work translates nicely to the pipe organ, with all its capacity for tonal and dynamic variation, in Allwood’s transcription.
Nicole Keller
Passacaglia from Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 by J. S. Bach
Nicole Keller performed a Bach staple, and one of the most beloved pieces in the organ repertoire. As she noted in her opening remarks, her goal was to emphasize the work’s contrapuntal nature, and her performance accomplished that goal. She drew out the melodic elements of the work, rather than its complexity.
She made it sound easy and flowing in a performance of beauty and simplicity — which of course, is not so simple to do.
Aaron James
The Organ is Dancing by Mons Leidvin Takle
Choral-Riff: Basso Ostinato by Dick Koomans
James chose contemporary works by Norwegian (Takle) and Dutch (Koomans) composers. “I went looking for the silliest and most light hearted music I could [find],” he said, describing how he’d come across the works for a specific service. He performed the two pieces together as a kind of “very strange” medley, and as he pointed out, they referenced modern elements such as dance music as well as nodding to the Baroque tradition.
Takle’s piece is definitely dance-oriented, a melodic work with syncopated rhythms over a bouncy bass line. It has a nice sense of momentum James kept up throughout. Koomans’ music had a distinct jazzy influence, including an interesting bass line, though it also incorporated contrapuntal sections. He made good use of the organ’s tonal range from broad and brassy to reedy and choir-like sounds.
Jonathan Oldengarm
Introduction and Passacaglia in D minor, op. WoO IV/6 by Max Reger
Max Reger’s life spanned the late 19th and early 20th centuries, turbulent times in his native Germany. He was also influenced to a great degree by J.S. Bach, not only musically, as Oldengarm pointed out, but spiritually, and as a man. The work definitely nods to Bach’s Baroque traditions, but adds the unsettled feel of Reger’s zeitgeist.
There’s a certain underlying restlessness to the piece, each phrase, as Oldengarm described it, on the way to something else. Aaron James served as page turner, and as if in sympathy with its mood, the pages of the manuscript itself fluttered and threatened to fly away. Oldengarm’s performance was passionate, and beautifully exemplified the work’s emotional basis.
Shin-Young Lee
Polovtsian Dance, excerpt from Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin
Lee herself created the transcription of this excerpt from Borodin’s opera, easily the best known of the composer’s works. As she pointed out, Borodin was unable to finish the opera before his death, but the Polovtsian Dances were among the portions completed entirely by the composer.
The lyrical opening section gives way to a series of energetic dances, including that famous melody. Lee’s transcription made good use of the organ’s varied colours to separate melodic lines from accompaniment, and other elements of the work. Her playing was sensitive to the many changes in the work, some quite dramatic from one note to the next. Especially impressive was her rapid fire left hand playing.
Free Student Concert
The students of the summer academy will be in good hands.
If you’d like to get a look at the next gen of talented organists, the students at this year’s RCCO Summer Organ Academy will perform a free concert at the Rosedale United Church on Saturday, July 11, 2026 from 1 p.m. until 2:15 p.m., followed by a reception.
You can check out other details of the RCCO Summer Organ Academy [HERE].
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